Flimsy Excuses For Poor Photographs That Nobody's Even Seen Yet, And What I Did Or Did Not Do In The Holy See

Rome is really really big. Like... you know... BIG. I'm afraid I've kind of crapped out in the photo department this time around, because everything is so big it makes me tired just to contemplate trying to fit stuff properly into one shot, and photostitch isn't helping me too much either because it really only works best when you can get some distance from your subject so that during the stitch process the lines meet up without too much skewing of the perspective. Which I can't, really, because of the bigness. By the time you're far enough away from say, the Colloseum, to get a good shot, something else really big winds up partially blocking your view, or it's SO far away (because, you know, it's so big) that the details that make it interesting get lost in the zoom.
You know what else is big? The Vatican. Holy Crap, dude. I spent all day in Vatican City today, and I'm pretty sure I didn't come close to seeing everything. Incidentally, Vatican City is a sovereign state, but I'm not sure if that means that when I'm tallying up my hypertrek points I can count it as a country other than Italy... the problem is that yes, Sovereign State certainly connotates a separate entity from Italy, but in reality, there is no border guard, let alone a passport stamp. (Grumble grumble so and so) There is a security check at both the Vatican museum and at the outer entrance to St. Peter's Basilica (but not at the big Basilica square where the Pope gives his weekly address), but they are no different from any other security checkpoint at most museums with countless priceless pieces of art. So any help in clearing that up there is much appreciated.
Oh, speaking of the Vatican just made me remember another reason, a more important reason actually, why my phototaking here has been so lackluster... Rome is apparently this HUGE tourist attraction, like, bigger than Six Flags. Seriously, I've never been somewhere this crowded. Walking through the Vatican Museum today was insane; I woke up early this morning so that I could get to the Sovereign Nation/State of Vatican City by 8:00 because I read in my guidebook that by the time it opens at 8:30, the line to get in is huge. Well, I should've got there at 7:00. The line stretched back about two blocks; I spent from the moment I got there until I left the museum at around 1:30pm stuck within a massive, mouth-breathing, multi-cellular creature made of tourists, who were busy snapping photos of Raphael's works, Michaelangelo's masterpieces, Roman sculptures of dead Roman guys wearing funny things on their heads, a squished bug that was momentarily mistaken for art by the beast made of cameras and fanny-packs, and basically every little thing that looked like it might be something worth bragging about to their friends back home, whether they knew what it was they were photographing or not. (Which is not what I do at all.) And in the Sistine Chapel... fuggetaboutit. Total. Madhouse. I felt like there might be a security guard waiting on the other side of the exit with a hammer to club tourists over the head with. You know, like they do to cows. Because there were so many tourists packed into such a (relatively) small space, with a glazed look as their eyes rolled upwards, and mouths hanging open, breathing. ... You get it right?  Never mind.
Anyway, my point was supposed to be about why I've done such a poor job with pictures, and I started out using my day in the Vatican as an example, went too far, and now I'm back. See, it's pretty much like that everywhere I've been in Rome, just more concentrated in the Vatican. Thousands of tourists snapping thousands of pictures a minute, all over the city. And that was just today. They say it's like that every day, and I just kind of feel like, every time I pull out my camera, what's the point? I've got nothing new to add to Roman tourist photos; it's been done from every angle a million times over. There's ten guys behind me trying to elbow me out of the way so they can take the exact same photo I just took, which makes me angry even though I just elbowed some dude with a dinky 3 megapixel tourist camera who thought he had the right to take more time than I thought necessary to get a shot which I wanted to get out of the way. I don't know if this phenomenon has a name, but for me, I feel photodepressed. Don't misunderstand, I still took me some pictures, but, whenever I open the gallery, don't expect too much that you haven't seen done better a million times before, you know? Speaking of, I did open my Budapest gallery, and there were much fewer tourists there, so the self-delusion that I took some original photos sustained me for that one.
But as far as, say, any sort of real observational comments about Rome? Well, I have a few: I am dog tired, because walking around this city in particular will do that to you. But it's worth it because it's really pretty and the Sistine Chapel ceiling really is as amazing as everybody says it is. You don't think so at first; you kind of go, That's it? What's the big deal? The ten rooms full of works by Raphael, and even the Hall of Maps which was painted by a bunch of non-famous dead guys was as interesting as this. The Hall of Maps was actually quite fantastic, so I'm not denigrating anything really, just trying to say, clumsily, that Michaelangelo at first glance didn't bowl me over. But give it about one full minute, and it begins to sink in how amazing it is... the paintings look ready to climb down off the ceiling, and the colors make you wonder if the Priests are putting something in the water. They just get more vivid every minute. Actually, that might have more to do with the fact that apparently absinthe is legal in Italy now, too, and I bought a bottle yesterday evening... Now that it looks to be legal all over Europe, it seems as though they're making it purer and stronger than they used to... I ain't sayin', I'm just sayin'. I was most certainly not drinking absinthe inside the Holy See; I would never disrespect the Catholic Church that way.
Moving on, then.
So tomorrow is my last day in Rome, and then I'm taking the night train to Munich. Have I said how much I love night trains? I'm sure I have. I'm really excited about it... I have done entirely too much flying in the last week. And then, of course, all Krampus shall ensue.
I'll leave you with a picture of a picture I took in the modern Christian art museum in the Vatican... I'm not sure what they call this thing, but I call it the Holy Finger.

Comments

[hooligan]

Can you please explain my demotion from "Good Bloggery" to "Pretty Cool, Actually"? Rude!

[hooligan]

But "photodepressed"? Good coinage.

[messiestobjects]

RE-lax dude… Good Bloggery is supposed to be more high-profile blogs by people I don’t know that will never deign to acknowledge me; and Pretty Cool, Actually, is an amalgamization of my old “friends” links and other cool sites. I just realized that I’d had you in the wrong list is all. Don’t worry… I’m pretty blitzed on absinthe at the moment and may decide to re-organize at a future, more sober date. Gotta go sleep.
And thanks for the coinageprops. Damn I'm good at makin' up words.

[hooligan]

How about some vice ideas for your next trek since we're all living vicariously through you? http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/WNT/story?id=2699510&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Christy]

First off - I believe as a sovereign nation recognized by the United Nations Vatican City/Holy See should constitute hypertrek points for you... (Although it's not a member of the UN - merely a permanent observer (fags)).

Second. Now I'm an "old" friend? I get it. F*** off Mike.

Love you.
Christy

[messiestobjects]

Um, no. Actually, if you read it, you're an old "friend"... always pay attention to where the quotes are...
Love you too, baby.

[messiestobjects]

And Vice trekking looks AWESOME. I wanna go hunting for radioactive animals in Chernobyl the most.

[Christy]

Did you censor me?

[messiestobjects]

I know I know, it's very bad of me. I just asterisked your a**, though, because my grandmother comes here, and so does my little sister and other members of my family... while they've seen worse, I'm sure, I like to keep things somewhat neat so that they don't get scared away. Granted, since I've linked my page to various other sites with no such compunctions, it's fairly inconsistent of me, but there you go.
I'm sorry.

[hooligan]

At least she didn't say "Did you censor me, *?"

[hooligan]

Whoops!

[messiestobjects]

Seriously, stop it.

[Heather]

I am grievously sorry for having offended any grannies, siblings, dads, friends, blends, cronies, and/or exes, with my drive-by swearing. It was purely for effect and without forethought. I am ashamed.

[Heather]

But watching the shuttle's night launch from my porch has begun my healing process.

[messiestobjects]

All apologies accepted... I don't like being Mr. No-No, but hey, life is hard.

[Heather]

I have a sneaking suspicion that being Mr. No-No is what gets you out of bed in the morning. But ok.